Electricity usage

[bdhsfz6]

17.5 cents looks like the national average of total electric rate, and your 7.6 cents that you chose is probably just the energy company charge. Most states allow picking the energy company, but you still use your local utility that owns the physical hardware, for the distribution, and transmission charges.
Are you sure you’re comparing apples to apples with those numbers?

Yes, my error. The national electricity only rate is $11.23 cents per KWH, not $17.5.

Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[Carl_NH]

In NH the cost of delivery has risen dramatically over the last three years. Our September bill for 400 kWh for the house is $112 this month or $.28 per KWH. $.11 KWH for electricity and $.17 KWH for delivery.

Electric Supply Services $45.23
Delivery Services $67.02
Total Current Charges $112.25

Our garage has the solar and a separate service with net metering at the current rate $.28, they send us a check for overproduction so it's offset $ for $ to what we pay for the house, so its a wash.

The "new" solar installations only get overproduction credit at the cost of energy rate, not the distribution, so that would make the ROI much different in our case.

 

[ultrarunner]

What pencils out in a high cost market may not in a market with low cost electricity.

I’m very pleased with my modest system that was self installed…

Part is simply the satisfaction quotient which is hard to put a price on.

Each year I receive a modest check… my 6kW system produces more than I use for 3200 square feet of home.

 

[bdhsfz6]

What pencils out in a high cost market may not in a market with low cost electricity.

I’m very pleased with my modest system that was self installed…

Part is simply the satisfaction quotient which is hard to put a price on.

Each year I receive a modest check… my 6kW system produces more than I use for 3200 square feet of home.

Again, this will vary by location. PPL, my electric provider here in PA uses net metering. They use your surplus elecrticity to offset future bills. They do not pay you for it directly.

 

[ultrarunner]

By law we have annual True Up which is tracked monthly.

I’m a daily producer…

Last December I did end up owing $1.29 for the month due to peak use.

Attached billing summary showing 12 months of my usage. Had to post lower resolution due to bandwidth limitations here in the boondocks.

 

[JRH02]

The answers are all over the place. And why not, we all live in different places and individual power bills are being posted. To post a power bill from your place is meaningless.

I was hoping people would share ways to reduce the bill and live better.

 

[ponytug]

The answers are all over the place. And why not, we all live in different places and individual power bills are being posted. To post a power bill from your place is meaningless.

I was hoping people would share ways to reduce the bill and live better.

On that note, over the last year we have been insulating the crawlspace, sealing the house against air leaks, (together about a 50+% reduction in heating costs), and increasing the insulation in some of the walls as we add fire resistant siding (TBD reduction, but probably in the 15-20% range). We anlso added improved dampers on exhaust vents. All part of improving wildfire resistance and home hardening. We can now keep the indoor AQI below ten, even when the outdoor AQI is 150.

We also switched to an induction stove that uses less energy (faster cooking times, less wasted heat), and a better insulated oven.

All of this is also part of move away from LPG because of the supplier's past behavior.

As we are on solar, it will take some time to nail down the differences in detail. We do use batteries to cover 100% of our peak power usage. The electrical bills really only line up annually, and even then a warm winter or a cold windy one can significantly impact both our power use and our power generation. So, we may not have a solid answer for a few years.

FWIW: We recently priced an add-on ground mount solar (no export), that came out to be about $0.18/kWh over 20 years.

All the best,

Peter

 

[grsthegreat]

The answers are all over the place. And why not, we all live in different places and individual power bills are being posted. To post a power bill from your place is meaningless.

I was hoping people would share ways to reduce the bill and live better.

No way to do that. I swapped everything to led to save money, so dud most other people around here. Than the power companies sold less power, so complained delivering the power was losing money, so they increased rates.


Net zero change

 

[ultrarunner]

Same happened here but also said it’s a matter of equity?

Water conservation led to steep price increases because the actual gallons flowing through the pipes mean little to overall operating costs…

The treatment plants, pipes, meters, reservoirs, etc, have a fixed cost.

Water company actually said big users were offsetting costs for those that use very little.

Conservation changed the business model.

 

[WinterDeere]

Year round the folks family home is 12 kWh a day… or 360 a month.

Whoa! This year, thanks to some LED conversion and using wood and oil for primary heating, we have our electric usage down to 1800 to 3700 kWh per month. We used to be regularly over 4000 kWh, back in the days of all incandescent and CRT monitors and TV's.

Our biggest months are July and August, thanks to air conditioning. But our rate is much lower than yours, so cost is only $340 to $750/month.

I couldn't imagine running this house on $.50/kWh electric!